Almost a whole month and it's not even that long... I know, I suck, But! I think you might like where this is going.
The Abyssal Pit
A massive sinkhole located in the very center of Arnvolt. Whatever the cause if its formation, it is clear that it stands as the source of the darkness that has overtaken the City.
Arnvolt once stood as the world's last, best hope of finally defeating the Abyss, but all was lost when this festering, corrupt heart one day appeared in the city, sprouting dark and evil trough every nook and cranny in the city.
Arnvolt's glory days are long gone, but amidst the vast sea of darkness, there is still a glimmer of hope. A final remedy to the curse found where it all begun. Retrieving it would no doubt mean death for anyone who tried, but what would redemption mean without resistance? What would valor mean without danger? And what would duty mean without an end?
"By the gods..." Chara breathed "How the hell are we ever going to come trough that?"
Beside her, Frisk nodded their agreement. No matter what happened, this would be the end of their journey.
In front of them was the massive sinkhole from which the evil that had taken Arnvolt had sprouted... and from where it continued to seep. Strange creatures, none of them had seen before, as well as the lost souls sans had dubbed "humanities" stalked their way out of the epicenter in unending numbers.
What had once been the shops and buildings of the city's market district was still there, crumbling, half-buried, lining the descending sides of the pit. Frisk guess that from their position, there were a good 4 kilometers to the other side of the massive sinkhole.
For now, they had taken refuge inside a ruined granary. The tall building allowed a good view of this, their final task.
And just barely view of what laid in the center.
It was like... a "pool" of utter blackness, out which the creatures emerged. Frisk imagined they might be seeing things but from what they could see, it looked like some kind of makeshift gate had been set into the earth right beside it. That had to be their goal. The Soulsever, whatever it was, HAD to be beyond those gates.
"So" Chara began "Any ideas?"
Nobody answered. Frisk looked over the abyssal pit again and again, trying to find some easy way in, yet nothing came to mind.
"This... might sound stupid but couldn't we just leg it?" Asriel offered.
Frisk scrunched their face as they thought it over. The so-called "humanities" didn't seem that fast; they could definitely outrun them but the strange abyssal creatures?
"Maybe..." Frisk answered. "Perhaps if we ran from cover to cover, we might-"
"BOOOH!" a sickeningly shrill voice called. Asriel jumped with a scared bleat.
"Sans..." Chara hissed with contempt as she turned to the voice, pulling the now shaking monster close in comfort.
"heh, well, looks like i got your goat" the hero turned flower taunted, bouncing on his stem. He had seemingly sprouted from a hole in the floorboards.
"i was honestly worried you were gonna chicken out of this. glad you came!"
"What do you want, weed?" Frisk sneered back.
"as i said before; fun! and just look at the spectacle you're about to provide me" He answered, waving a leaf at the hellish landscape.
"seein' the light leave someone's eyes is so much more satisfyin' than just watchin' them die, dont'cha think?"
"Y-y-you're sick!" Asriel whimpered in protest from behind Chara.
The rogue herself took a step forward, unsheathing her knife.
"You'd better clear off before I go weed-whacking" she threatened.
"bahahaha, have you forgotten already? i can't die for good!"
"Maybe not, but if I cut you down right now, you would miss your "show"" Chara hissed.
The flower stopped his taunting bouncing and his grin dropped a little.
"alright, fine, i'll go" he said, retracting down the hole he had sprouted from.
"but i'll be watchin' you all. i know you won't disappoint, see ya!" he finished with a cold laugh.
"So, wait until night and then just make a run for it?" Asriel asked his 2 compatriots, eating a spoonful out of his bowl of tem flakes. "Sounds... risky"
"It is" Frisk concurred, taking a sip out of a bottle of Siegbrau, a brand of high-grade firewater from Catarina, something they used whenever they needed a bit of liquid courage, like now. "But it's our only choice. We can't fight all of those things, but we might be able to sneak past them in the dark"
"Even with all the stuff I have done, I can't say I have ever tried anything like sneaking into a demon-spewing cesspit" Chara said, taking a bite of her a spider doughnut "Heh, almost sounds fun"
The group had gathered on the lower floor of the granary, out of sight of the creatures outside, and sharing in some of the last of their foodstuffs. Frisk had been a bit disconcerted and awed at once at the strange food their companions had brought with them from Ebott. Things made from spiders and other stuff they claimed had magical healing properties. They had offered to share, but Frisk had declined, opting for their own tried-and-true rations.
Outside, the sun was slowly setting, turning they gray sky into a black sea. Frisk would be lying if they said they weren't just a little bit tense. Failure here would mean a fate worse than death, and quite possibly cost the whole world its only chance of being saved from the curse.
"I know we can do this" Asriel declared, perhaps sensing the tense atmosphere, not as forcefully as he used to.
"Heh, you keep saying that" Chara answered with a smile.
"Well, you know, mom and dad always said tha-"
"Upholding hope is our duty, I know" Chara finished "But I think we'll need more than just hope for this one, I mean, what if the gate down there is locked?"
"Don't worry about that; I have the key right here" Frisk answered, pulling a firebomb out of their bag.
"That thing will draw every nasty in the city towards us" Chara said with concern.
"Then let's hope we won't need it"
"Hmm, that reminds me, how are we going to get out of there?"
"Huh?"
"The pit. Even if we do get trough the gate, even if we do find this "Soulsever", we'll still have to get it out of there"
"... I know this probably isn't what you want to hear but we'll cross that bridge when we get to it"
"Frisk!"
"Well, I don't know! We'll just try the same trick we used to get in or something"
"..."
"I, uhhh, I could try a spell I have" Asriel meekly interjected.
"What!?" Chara barked at him, obviously frustrated.
"Ahh! It's, uhh... do you- do you remember that one time we snuck into the castle larder?"
"Of course, had a hell of a time convincing you to do so. For crying out loud, Asriel, what kid wouldn't want to go on a snack raid on their own!?"
"Because it was stealing!... anyway, do you remember the spell I used so we could sneak past the guards?"
"Oh, yes, I remember. The one that muffled one's footsteps? What was the name... shush?"
"Hush"
"Right, hush"
"Well, maybe we could use that to help us get in and out? What do you think Frisk?"
The knight scowled in response. In truth, they had never been a fan of magic but, admittedly, Asriel's little tricks had proven useful thus far.
"As long as it does as advertised, I suppose it might help" they admitted.
"It does!" Asriel confirmed with a vigorous nod.
"I can vouch for it" Chara chimed in.
"Haha, alright, alright, I believe you" Frisk conceded, raising their hands.
A few moments of relaxed peace descended, the tension from before not entirely gone but at least softened.
Across from Frisk, Chara quietly narrowed her eyes at something near their hip.
"There' something I've been meaning to ask" she begun, raising her hand to point at Frisk's sword.
"Your sword... it's blunt" she stated,
"Yup, it is"
"..."
"Frisk, come on"
"Hehe, alright, sorry, just teasing you" Frisk said, drawing their sword from the scabbard.
Asriel and Chara leaned close to get a good look at it. They knowledge about weapons, in general, was limited, but even they could see the signs of good, solid craftsmanship in the blade. The only detriment being that it was completely dull, more a mace than a slashing weapon.
"The truth is... is that I keep it dull because it makes it harder to kill someone with it... accidentally, at least"
Across from them, Chara raised a doubtful eyebrow.
"You keep it dull... to make it harder to kill?" She asked.
"That's what I said"
"But aren't you a mercenary? Isn't killing what you're paid to do?"
"Quite often, yes"
"... Have you ever killed anyone?"
Frisk gave off a somewhat sad smirk. They looked up at Chara with equal parts mirth, equal part apologetic look.
"Well... there was this one time in a church, where I was surrounded by hollows and my companions were both on fire"
"Oh... right" Chara breathed, raising a hand to nudge a spot on their forehead.
"But, to answer your question, yes, I have killed. Quite a lot, actually, but that doesn't mean I like doing it"
"Last resort?" Chara challenged.
"Always. Taking a life is never a good thing... but sometimes it's the only way"
Chara glanced away with a thoughtful look, no doubt contemplating their words while Asriel appreciated them with a proud look. They well remembered the prince's little speech about how monsters valued the preservation of life above everything else.
If that even meant anything these days. When cursed, all life was, in a way, preserved, like a piece of meat preserved in an imperfect vacuum until it rotted. They shook in slight disgust as the thought.
But perhaps that wouldn't matter. If they failed and hollowed, would they be too far gone to even recognize and lament their fate? Truth be told, in a horrible way, hollows could be surprisingly determined and energetic when they wanted to, such as when they smelled souls and flesh to eat. They wondered how they felt in those moments... and if they even felt anything at all.
A wry smile appeared on Frisk's lips.
If they were lucky, they would never find out.
When night finally fell, the group rose, wordlessly making their way towards the exit of the granary hideout. It was a silent, unanimous decision; they all they knew that if waited too long to gather their courage, more than likely it would go the other way around.
They assembled outside. In the dark, most of the pit was hidden from them, unfortunately, the sounds weren't; inhuman growls, beastly howls, and demonic roars stemmed from the pit. Frisk wasn't too proud to deny the fact that they were terrified. In the darkness, they would hopefully be harder for the creatures to spot them... but they would also have a hard time seeing anything until they were right on top of it.
"This is it" Frisk whispered to the others "If you want to turn back, now's your last chance"
"I would like nothing more" Chara answered "But it's what we got to do"
"We can do this" Asriel said, repeating his usual mantra, trying to encourage himself just as much as the others.
He raised his sorcery staff high, holding it in place for a few seconds, before spinning it, silently uttering a few arcane words as he did. A bluish mist began seeping out of it, and with a wave, the monster sent it out to himself, Frisk and Chara. The strange miasma coalesced around their feet.
Hush
Sorcery developed by a certain surreptitious
sorcerer at Vinheim Dragon School.
Masks all noises of caster.
Effectively, Vinheim is controlled by the
Dragon School, and it is no wonder that the
town has its share of dark secrets.
While the monsters of Ebott have long ago
translated this spell, it is not on the
official Hotland Academy curriculum,
but, as they say, mischief maketh the means
Frisk took a few jumps. Their armors rustled, the metal creaking and the joints making all kinds of noise.
Or, at least, it should, but as they landed, not a single sounds escaped them. Even their breathing seemed almost nonexistent.
"Huh, that's pretty neat" Frisk said. "As I said before; top of his class" Chara boasted and clasped a hand on the monster's shoulder, who in turn blushed under the praise.
"Aww, it's- it's nothing" he said, looking away in embarrassment.
"Still, this might just make all the difference" Frisk breathed, turning to face the pit before them"
Well... are you ready?" they asked.
"No" both of them answered in complete unison.
"Me neither..." Frisk finished. They took a deep breath, trying to shut out the hellish sounds from the pit, solely focused on the task they were about to undertake.
"Alright... let's go"
To the middle of the sinkhole, Frisk had wagered there laid about 2 kilometers. Nothing much, easily cleared with a brisk walk and 20 minutes.
But crawling, hiding and sneaking trough 2 kilometers? That was a whole other story.
The group went from cover to cover as they stealthily made their way. At each stop, they tried to chart the clearest and fastest route to the next spot trough the darkness. In the dark, the epicenter was invisible, but they knew that as long as they went downward, they were on the right track.
The first stop was an uninhabited half of a 2 story building, only a stone throw away from the next; a collapsed wall. Here they were forced to spring into action as a pair of hollows sat, back to the rubble, groaning to themselves. Chara and Frisk had snuck up to them without a sound, the former quickly sending her knife trough the eye socket of one of the wretches, and the latter chopping down with their blunt sword, eliciting a bone-crunching crack that spelled death for the hollow, but also a hiss from Chara; a reprimand for the sound they had made.
Nevertheless satisfied that they had not been detected, the 2 humans crouched down, scanning the area as best they could. Asriel moved up to join them from behind.
"So far, so good" Chara whispered "Only, what, 10 more hours of this until we're halfway?"
"Slow and steady wins the race" Frisk cautioned.
"If I take it much more easy, I'm going to stop breathing"
"Good, you'll make less sound that way"
"Bah, says the rustbucket!"
"Guys, what about over there?" Asriel interrupted, pointing a claw a what looked like a toppled-over tower.
Frisk looked over the place. Seemed clear but it was hard to tell in the dark. It was close but not enough to get a good view. They would have to pass close by a brutish creature that looked like a mix between a hippo and an ogre, but Asriel's Hush spell, as well as the fact that the creature was completely enraptured looking over the content of its nose meant that it wouldn't be a problem.
"Looks good" Frisk said "on 3. 1...2...-"
"Nooooooooooo..."
Frisk immediately threw themselves at Chara to silence her sudden, foolish outburst, only to have her hand clasp around their mouth in return. Their eyes met in a confused stare. Was she trying to do the same thing? But if she didn't say that, then...
"Nooooooooooo..."
Frisk and Chara turned to look behind them, their blood running cold at the sight. A pair of so-called humanities were closing in on them. Strange, human-adult sized swirls of black mist surrounded by white light. One of them kept repeating its denial while other emitted a constant, never-ending death gurgle, like someone choking on their own blood forever.
"Just go, just go!" Frisk ordered. As one, the 3 adventurers sprang from cover, rushing as swiftly but carefully as they could towards they crumbled tower. The hippo-beast paid them no heed, and as they neared their destination, they found no sight of any creatures hiding near it, at least from this side.
Chara arrived first, immediately dashing to a corner to check the other side "I don't see anything" She breathed in between labored breaths. Frisk sat down beside her but likewise couldn't see anything. A hand clasped on their shoulder, probably Asriel arriving as well.
"Good lords, those humanities..." Frisk hissed.
"I know, gives me the creeps" Chara said with a shudder.
"I wish there was something we could do for them..." Asriel spoke with a hint of sadness. He moved past Frisk, crouching down beside Chara.
"So, next stop... that half-sunken statue over there?" Chara pointed at what looked like a submerged stone angle. Not a terribly good spot as it wasn't that wide, but the way to it looked clear, and Frisk only saw movement of what looked like single hollow near it. No problem if they could get a drop on it.
"Sounds like a plan" Frisk nodded. Chara and Asriel threw one last cautionary look around before making their way. Frisk gently rolled their shoulder to throw Asriel's paw off so they could move to join them...
… but... he was ahead of them.
Cold, immense terror flooded Frisk. They moved a hand down to the hilt of their sword... then craned their neck to look behind them.
The hand was there, smoky, wispy and black, connected to an arm that in turn... belonged to a humanity.
From a distance, the strange sprites had looked like nothing more than black and white clouds of smoke, but up close they were a world more horrifying.
It was... a woman, they guessed, its smoky and swirly body, as well as the darkness of the night, made it hard to tell. Her eyes were gone, nothing but black pits. Her mouth was wide open and the lips trembled as if she was screaming a soundless scream.
On its own, it might not have scared Frisk that much, but Sans's hints at their nature and what they could do, as well as the implication of the hand it had clasped on their shoulder, had Frisk frozen in terror.
The shadowy thing slowly began to move its other hand towards Frisk face. They began hearing distant screaming, far-away and ethereal... perhaps it was in their own head? It was the sound of pain and horror in equal measure, but also unbridled rage, a desire to spread her suffering. Soon, Frisk would join in.
"Frisk! Get down!"
A blue, glowing spear suddenly sailed past Frisk, connecting with the humanity and knocking it away. They felt hands grabbing them roughly, Chara, and pulling them away.
Still stunned, but barely regaining their senses, Frisk stumbled after her. The terror from seconds ago still rendering their mind numb.
A loud, ethereal scream came from behind them. The sound of pent-up rage and the frustration of being denied prey. Frisk closed their eyes, hoping against hope it was just their imagination.
But no. The humanity had spotted them and now, half the city knew where they were.
Without a word, the 3 of them began the most desperate, fear-fueled run of their life. From every nook and cranny, from piles of shattered masonry and crumbled buildings, even rising from the earth itself, scores of horrific beast and creatures came after them.
Frisk's heavy armor made them the slowest of the trio, but adrenaline and their flight for survival made up for it.
A clawed hand reached out from the mud to grasp at them, but Frisk jumped over. A roaring, armored boar-like creature stampeded towards Chara. The rogue neatly vaulted over it as it reached her, deftly slicing her knife across its neck as she did. A half-woman, half-crow thing swooped down at the prince, but the monster sent a glowing, blinding orb of light at it, and it stopped in its tracks with a choked screech.
They ran for what felt to Frisk like hours. All manners of horrors and beast coming at them from every angle. They cheated and avoided death more times than any of them cared to count. The sounds all around like drawn from the deepest pits of hell and the darkness incessantly hiding the bottom of the pit. Frisk had almost given up hope.
"THERE!" Asriel suddenly shouted from somewhere in front of them. He followed up by throwing another glowing sphere at his target. It lit up, revealing the blackish lake and the steel gate.
A gate that was open!
"KEEP GOING! WE'RE ALMOST THERE!" Chara shouted somewhere in the dark. Just as she did, a loud metallic creak came from the gate. It began rising, closing!
Frisk redoubled their efforts, their lungs already burning. They felt a hot breath on their neck and instinctively ducked low. A swoosh of air came above them, something large aimed at their head that had barely missed.
They looked up. Asriel had reached the gate already. He waved his staff high in the air, the staff itself glowing at the tip, like a lighthouse urging Frisk to safe harbor.
The gate was almost closed completely now! If just-
A sense of premonition came over them. Frisk turned around, holding their shield up. Immediately, a gnarled fist slammed into them, hard enough to send them flying. Frisk was too scared to scream. They sailed trough darkness so deep they couldn't even see the ground.
But it came soon enough. Frisk landed hard, sliding a few meters trough slick mud, but quickly recovering. As they looked, they found they had, at least, been fortunate enough to fly in the right direction.
The gate was just a few meters in front of them. They saw Chara dive into the darkness beyond. Asriel was gone as well, hopefully inside.
They sprang to their feet, already feeling whatever had knocked them over close in from behind. Their vision narrowed solely on the gate, all sound seemed to deaden. All the world to Frisk was the effort of placing on foot in front of the other as quickly as possible.
They jumped, arms outstretched to latch onto the edge of the gate. With the last of their strength and with lungs fit to burst, Frisk threw themselves inside.
A loud thump. The gate closed behind them. They could hear fearful, heavy breathing around them; Chara and Asriel. Thank the lords they had made it!
But where were they now? They needed to-
"Well, well, well, look what The Father's children dragged in!" An eerily cheerful voice sounded in the darkness.
"Ah! But where are my manners! It's so rare I get guests down here, hihihi! Heya, folks! My name is Gaster!"
The end is near, the fires are fading. Soon, the cycle will be complete...
